Most people enjoy having visitors occasionally, family or friends who stay longer than just a fleeting few hours. As a result we also like to be able to cater for those visitors with enough room and household items to keep them comfortable during their stay.  A comfortable bed, clean linen, bathing facilities, crockery and cutlery items and food to keep the tummy grumbles away. There is nothing wrong with this in fact it is preferable to not being able to keep your visitors happy and comfortable or worse, not being able to accept visitors at all. But my experience is that many people over … [Read more...]
Space Goals
One of the areas of my home that I have been working on regularly since the very beginning of my declutter mission is my craft room. At the beginning all I knew was that I had too much stuff and I didn't really have an ultimate goal aside from to keep working at it until I was satisfied I had gone far enough. As I have slowly gotten closer and closer to that point my goal started to become clear. I wanted what I owned to fit into the craft organising cubes that I had long ago purchased for the task. No overflow  into other rooms in the house, no stuff in other items of furniture, no stuff in … [Read more...]
Want v Want
I received the following comment from Whisper last week which I think holds an important lesson when it comes to decluttering. Whisper wrote... "A month or so before my move, I tried a half-cull of my jewelry (suggested in The Minimalist Packrat) – getting rid of a piece for every piece I was keeping. I don’t think I managed to be completely 50/50, but it really helped me reduce to a more manageable level. This was after 3 or more less than productive culls where I just looked for things I didn’t want. It took the irritation of my unproductive attempts to try a new way. Another example … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Why 365 Less Things?
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom - A Review of the Basics Why 365 Less Things? Let’s get the grammatical question out of the way first and promptly. Yes, we know it’s supposed to be 365 Fewer Things, but it’s not. That’s all there is to it. (Can you believe that Colleen regularly gets comments from readers telling her she’s named the blog wrong? Do they think they’re the first to notice? Declutter this worry from your mind: You're not the first.) Now on to the meat of the matter: Why does 365 Less Things exist, and how can it help you? I truly don’t know the origins of the 365 Thing … [Read more...]
Less choice = Less competition
I got some great responses on Tuesday to my post on having more respect for one's diminished possessions. There were several comments that really stood out but these words from Ideealistin related well to something I had put in the donation box just the day before. Here are Ideealistins words - Using your stuff gives it great value. But I think it is amazing how not storing the stuff you use next to unused stuff, throwing your mind into constant competition mode, adds almost even more value. Now for how this relates to my decluttered item. I had two pair of white shorts in my drawer. One … [Read more...]
Refuse Reduce Reuse Recycle Re…
Bea at The Zero Waste Home lives by the principles of ~ Â Refuse, refuse, refuse. Then reduce, reuse and recycle. I agree wholehearted with this but I have another re to add to that list. RESPECT Respect the things you own treat them well and you will get many many years of use out of them. And if you lose your need for them they will also be in good condition to hand on to someone else. One thing I have noticed since I have reduced my belongings is that even though I have always been one to take care of my things I am inclined to take particular care if I only have a limited number of … [Read more...]
Reassess what need is
It was a comment for Sabine that inspired this post. She had no desire to do the writing that she usually enjoys because of  all the stuff she "needs" cluttering up her desk. "Maybe it is time to reassess what ‘need’ is." she said. Then in Tuesday's post I mentioned how little we really do need as opposed to what we "think" we need. I know I stated in that post that we really only need food, water, shelter and love, it is a little more complicated than that but not as complicated as we tend to make it for ourselves. You only have to look at the photos all the things I have decluttered … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom ~ Don’t Be Fooled into Buying for Charity
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom What do all these things have in common? Buy (Red): 10 to 50% of the proceeds of which go to eliminating AIDS in Africa. Book Sale: 20% proceeds go to your child's school! Would you like to buy some wrapping paper to support our band trip? How about a beautiful $200 beaded bracelets that supports JDRF? An undisclosed portion of the proceeds are donated to the organization. Rubber bracelets for sale for every cause possible. Typically $1 each. Obviously, these are all ways of coaxing a donation out of you; that is, providing a rationalization for a … [Read more...]
Cindy’s Weekly Wisdom – Have Storage Will Clutter, part 2
Cindy's Weekly Wisdom When Colleen wrote Have Storage Will Clutter, I assumed it would be about storage units, which exist all over the US, some row after row of garages, and others (literally) high rise buildings with full heating and air conditioning services. Some people's junk in the US lives better than many citizens. Recently I was  at a class with my eldest daughter and was telling one of the fathers about the blog. He immediately told me that his chore for that day was cleaning out the garage. The coach then approached and asked if we were talking about cleaning out a storage … [Read more...]
How less is more
When we talk about decluttering our goal is to end up with less stuff cluttering up our homes and lives. But after living for so long having and always wanting more the word less sounds like something negative, not a good thing. It exudes a vibe of going without, lack and life being not so pleasurable. But in reality the opposite is true. So instead of dwelling on the idea that less is a negative thing why not focus on the positive. How does less equal more. Less stuff to take care of = More time to spend doing the things you enjoy. More time to spend with the people you love. Less … [Read more...]